“Were you the one throwing all the bottles and everything last night?” the man asked.

“Yeah, I flip it around a little bit,” replied Robinson, the 33-year-old general manager of Terry Robards’ Wine & Spirits on Saranac Avenue.

“We saw you at the Lake House doing it,” the man said, “and thought to come in and check it out.”

What the Lake House guest came in to check out was Robinson dabbling in what is called “flair bartending.”

When Robinson is not working at the liquor store owned by his mother Julie Robinson-Robards and stepfather Terry Robards, he splits his time between many responsibilities in the village. He was elected as vice president of the Lake Placid Business Association in December, he runs the social media accounts for several local businesses and he spends as much time as he can with his 6-year-old daughter Rylee.

In recent months, Robinson has immersed himself into flair bartending. It’s a kind of half technical skill, half expressive art form where bartenders entertain guests by manipulating bar tools like cocktail shakers in dazzling ways, much the way Tom Cruise did in the 1988 movie “Cocktail.”

Robinson, who has more than 14 years of bartending experience in places such as Columbus, Ohio, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, wasn’t asked to flair bartend by Top of the Park. After several years out of the business, he is now working more casually at Top of the Park, tending bar only on Mondays and Tuesdays.

But as Robinson began to watch more and more videos of flair bartending, such as Tim “Flippy” Morris of Carnaval Court in Las Vegas, Robinson almost accidentally began tossing cocktail shakers around at the second-floor Main Street establishment while conversing and entertaining customers.

Just a few weeks later, Robinson’s flair bartending skills have improved, and he now occasionally takes to Top of the Park’s outdoor deck to put on mini shows for customers.

“If that can happen and make my Mondays and Tuesdays a bit better, it’s a win-win all around,” Robinson said. “And it might even put on a show for people who come out and want to see it.”

Robinson has always had interest in creative and artistic outlets thanks to his childhood being exposed to one of his loves, classical music. After he and his mother moved to Upper Jay in 1999, he took part in theater programs and the jazz choir while finishing high school at the AuSable Valley Central School District. In 2006, he graduated from SUNY Plattsburgh, where he first started bartending. He then spent time tending bar and working other jobs while in Ohio and Pennsylvania, first getting a taste for creative bartending when serving as head bartender for a 22-bartender establishment near Ohio State’s campus. He then gained experience working at a club and live music bar near Pittsburgh.

Robinson returned to the Adirondacks in the summer of 2011 with the intention of being back home just for the season. But when his mother’s antique business was completely due to Tropical Storm Irene, he decided to stay. His stepfather offered him the gig to run the wine and spirit shop.

Robinson is now a resident of Upper Jay, and he is one of the more active members of the community thanks in part to his specialty of social media promotion for places like Top of the Park, the Upper Jay Arts Center and the wine and spirits shop. He’s even started using a hashtag to promote his time bartending at Top of the Park, #TuesdaysWithTim.

Two of the main constants in Robinson’s life have been art and bartending. Everywhere he goes, he’s reminded of his roots with the family wine shop; he named his black lab-pitbull Caymus after the rare Caymus Vineyards box that was present the day Robinson brought the 3-month-old puppy home. Caymus is usually with Robinson, even when he’s practicing flair bartending. During practice, Robinson’s 30-minute routine consists of tuning in to Sirius XM Radio’s Lithium channel, where he flips shakers to the tune of some of his favorite artists, such as Nirvana, Radiohead and Muse. He may wear a promotional Ciroc or a “Big Lebowski” Dude-themed Tito’s Vodka shirt. And he uses the same cocktail shaker: A weighted and rubberized Beefeater shaker he first got at the age of 19.

“She’s got a lot of miles on her,” he said.

Looking ahead, Robinson would entertain the idea of expanding his flair bartending as he improves his skills. He’s taken to posting videos of some of his freestyle-like routines to Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. He doesn’t attempt to perform particular moves until he’s perfected them nine out of 10 times, and he’s thinking about continuing to improve his skills by learning how to juggle.

For now, Robinson considers his newfound passion just that, a hobby he’s doing for fun. And much like the photos he posts to promote businesses on Instagram, this flair bartending interest is also a form of expression.

Many moves, he said, are just for show, perhaps making a drink for someone he’s speaking to at the end of the bar. Some of it he even thinks has similarities to a theater production.

Most importantly, it’s another form of creativity, one related to his long and winding journey, away from the Olympic Region and back home again.

“I look at it as expression,” Robinson said. “A lot of it is pure entertainment. I tell jokes, I just want to make it pretty fun for people.”